

Light rain when we arrived at the start, but there were sunny intervals expected today


Quite a long trek along a landrover track to reach the hills, but nice views on the way and all was still calm

Once off the track the climb up the hill soon became through patches of snow and later on, ice. Even as the snow became more compact, being at the back of a small group I had the luxury of a ready-made staircase so no need for crampons... and the sun made an appearance

Further up Beinn a'Chochuill the ground became much more slippery and steep so I brought out the ice axe. More for peace of mind to start with, but as the wind picked up and it was harder to get a grip with each step I adopted a strange walk using the ice axe to give me an anchor point with each step

Beinn a'Chochuill summit reached (maps and GPS checked just to make sure as visibility was poor by now) we quickly moved back to retrace steps and head for the next summit. I usually find I'm faster on the descent than the climb, but this one had me still walking like I had a zimmer frame

I felt the climb up Beinn Eunaich was better than the first ascent - my legs were coping well, there were less icy patches needing the funny ice axe waddle, and the wind was behind us. Some rocks near the top to climb over, then the cairn seemed to be right there, almost as soon as the climb was over


As we came down there were a couple of bigger snow patches. By now I was further behind and still finding it difficult to get a grip with my feet - so more ice axe sliding for me



Must practice putting on crampons - had them with me on this trip but was hard enough coping with the wind so I didn't stop to try putting them on (for the first time ever!). Oh, and the goggles that are still on my shopping list!!.. there were brief moments of rain, hail and snow, but it was the bits of grit blowing around while I was crawling that really made me think I could have done with a pair!

Overall, another great adventure!
